Rewind
by the electric phantom
Summary: Nicky is the night guard at the museum when Tilly and Ahkmenrah come back from London. So much has changed, yet remains the same. But when the sands of time sweep them away, each of them must confront their demons from the past.
1. Chapter 1

_Attila leaned forward with a smile on his face, as if he knew something that the man before did not._

 _"Tell me, sorcerer," he whispered, "How can you help me?"_

 _The man sitting across the table from him fidgeted nervously._

 _"Well, I have some knowledge of the art of healing magic, and the spirits have been known to communicate with me from time to time-"_

 _"Enough!" the Hun barked, "I am tired of you so-called sorcerers who only_

"Yeah, this sounds nothing like you," Nicky muttered, pressing the backspace button to delete the past few lines. He glanced up at the wax form of Attila and smiled, imagining his reaction to how bad that paragraph was. He closed his laptop and stood up, ready to stretch his legs.

Everything was quiet, expected by now but still, an uncomfortable stillness hung in the air. He climbed the stairs up to the second floor, glancing at the Easter Island statue. Absentmindedly, he tossed a piece of gum into his own mouth. The Egyptian room was dark and the door was locked. No one had been there for years. Nicky walked straight past the door towards the miniatures, but his heart wouldn't allow him to look at the cowboys or the Romans. In reality, he didn't have the heart for most of this, but duty unfortunately called.

Eventually, he meandered back down to the first floor, picking up his laptop and heading towards the animals. Sitting down on a bench outside of where the African animals were, Nicky opened the laptop to find someone was trying to video message.

"Hi, Nicky!" Tilly said with a wave, "How's it going on your side of the pond?" He smiled at the English woman.

"Going good over here. How are you guys doing, Tilly? Have you gotten any further on how you want to style your hair?"

"Yeah, actually Ahkmenrah figured out a way to make a bun that doesn't get tossed around if I run and we don't need any pins for. I hate the way those pins just dig into your head, you know?"

"Can't say that I do. How's Lancelot?"

"He taught Trexie to play dead, so now they're reenacting every monster he's ever-"

"Who are you talking to?" a familiar voice called. Tilly adjusted the camera and Ahkmenrah came into the picture. His smile was as huge and bright as the sun.

"Hello, Nicky! How is Brooklyn?"

"Hey, Ahk. Brooklyn's good. London doing okay? No one die from your handsomeness?"

The pink on the Pharoh's face caused Tilly and Nick to laugh as Ahkmenrah pouted, muttering about them being ridiculous.

"How's your dad doing?" Tilly eventually asked once the laughter had ceased.

"Good," Nicky said, "Nothing really exciting, just teaching at one of the high schools around here."

"Can we tell him yet?" Ahkmenrah asked Tilly, bouncing with excitement, "Please?"

"What are you guys up too?" Nicky asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," Tilly began dramatically, "I have managed to get the buggers over here to finally finish up all of the paperwork we need. It took a lot of convincing, but they're letting us-"

"We're coming home, Nicky!" interrupted the ecstatic Pharoh, "Tilly got them to transfer me back to New York!"

The young night guard could hardly believe it. Of course he'd dreamed of one day guarding the museum while it was alive. All of the exhibits had been such an important part of his childhood, giving him a consistent group of friends which is a very rare thing. Yet he had imagined that the day where the museum came back to life would be when he was at least old enough to legally drink.

"Wow," Nicky breathed out as he brushed fingers through his hair, "That's- wow."

"We'll be there Sunday afternoon," Tilly informed him.

"Oh, Nicky, I can't wait to see everyone again!" Ahkmenrah said giddily.

"Are your parents okay with you leaving so soon?" Nicky asked.

"We talked about it for a while, and it was great to get to see them again. But we all agreed that I needed to be with my, well, my other family."

"Everyone's going to be so pumped to see you again," Nicky told Ahkmenrah.

"Not as pumped as we are to see all of you," Tilly said, giving the Pharoh a fist bump.

"So I guess I'll see you guys on Sunday," Nicky said with a smile.

"We'll see you then," Tilly said in a sing-song.

Nicky closed his computer while laughing. Something interesting was bound to happen on Sunday.

 **A.N.: So, I'm not sure how often this will be updated or what direction the story is going. I have a few little things planned out, but there isn't a lot really set in stone. Any sort of feedback is so appreciated, guys! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.: Holy sh- wow! Did not expect to get a response to this fic so fast! I'm so excited to get this really started!**

Nicky stood in the Egyptian room, facing the tablet, staring at his watch. The sun was set to go down any moment. He felt as if he'd been waiting for this moment his entire life, and the pressure was building up to the point he thought he might splatter his guts all over the hieroglyphs on the walls. But the golden glow came, and his focus shifted to opening the sarcophogus in front of him.

The frantic Pharoh was trying to get out of his bandaging, but it seemed that nothing would be quick enough for him.

"Ahk, let me help," Nicky pressed, pulling at a particular bandage that was stuck. With a surprising amount of effort required, he managed to unravel the top half of his Egyptian friend. A few seconds of rapid breathing subsided before Ahkmenrah sat up and got out of his sarcophogus.

"Hello, Nicky, young guardian of Brooklyn," he whispered, wrapping Nicky in a furiously tight hug. Nicky squeezed his eyes shut, forbidding himself from crying this early into the night.

"I've missed you," he told the Pharoh. It was true; not a day went by without him longing for things to return to how they'd been when he was little, when everyone was together and things were simpler. Tilly ran in.

"I don't know if it's okay with you Yanks, Nicky, but the giant statue guy is demanding candy," she reported. Nicky laughed.

"Yeah, no, from what I remember, that's totally normal. I'll give him some gum in a minute."

Ahkmenrah stepped out of his bandages and headed towards the door.

"I must say hello to everyone. It's been far too long," his eyes were wistful, likely also remembering the good times Nicky looked so fondly back on.

Getting into the swing of things was harder than Nicky had expected. Everyone was moving with much less certainty than he was used to. After all, it had been a long time for all of them. Explaining to Jedediah and Octavius why Gigantor Senior, as they were now calling his dad, wasn't there was surprisingly emotional considering that the older Daley was only a subway ride away. But the way the miniatures talked made him sound like he was lightyears from home.

"The education of the next generation is a noble vocation," Octavius mused, "But it would have been ideal for him to be here with us."

"No offense," the cowboy added to the new night guard. Nicky chuckled, knowing exactly the feeling.

"I know I can never be him," he told the two, "But I'm glad to have you all-"

His sentence was interrupted by a rib-crushing hug from behind.

"Oh my- oxygen! Oxygen!" He was released and saw Attila bashfully looking down at his feet.

"It's okay, big guy. I missed you too." This time, the hug was not a surprise and was much more welcomed.

"Jedo! Octo!" the Hun cried, running to the miniatures. Carefully, he placed them both in the palm of his hand.

"Good to see you too," Octavius said with a grin. Nicky couldn't help but mirror the grin; everything was turning back to normal.

Dexter was seemingly content being able to run around again. Rushing around the entire museum, he curiously examined all of the tiny changes that had been made since they'd last woken up. Laa and Tilly had taken root in Ahk's room, Tilly rambling about all that had happened and Laa staring at her intently.

Nicky was just about to sit down and write when Ahkmenrah ran up to him.

"We have a slight situation," he told the night guard, "Come with me."

Heart pounding in his chest, Nicky followed the Pharoh. Possible crises ran through his mind, each more improbable and horrific than the last. When they reached the main entrance, his heart sunk. Of course, of all the things to go wrong, it had to be that one.

 **A.N.: Dun dun dun! Take a guess as to what's happening! Thank you so much for reading, and I can't wait to find out what you think about this chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N.: Hi, Gandalf! While those are all good guesses, you've read too much of my stuff to honestly believe that I would come up with a happy adventure for these guys. No, because even though I'm a really nice person, I somehow can't write a happy story. So... sorry.**

Sacajawea was on her knees in the center of the lobby, sobbing. Rexy gentled nudged her in an attempt to comfort, but it was no use. There was a plaque on the wall that had not been there the last time they had been awake. The group consisting of Nicky, Ahkmenrah, Attila, Jed, Octavius, and Dexter ran down the stairs towards her.

"Sacajawea, what's wrong?" Octavius called to her as they came closer. She said nothing but pointed at the mysterious new plaque.

 _On the morning of August 12, 2015, staff and visitors were equally shocked at the disappearance of one of the most popular exhibits. The wax figure of Theodore Roosevelt riding on his horse Texas was, according to the investigators, likely sold on the black market. Despite the passionate search by museum employees and police alike, he has yet to be found. Rather than attempting to replace such a beloved figure, museum curator Dr. McPhee chose to instead create this memorium to the figure and all the joy he brought in his many years of service._

"Oh my gods," Octavius whispered. Ahkmenrah knelt down next to the crying woman and pulled her close to him. This only seemed to make her more emotional, as her sobbing grew louder and louder.

"I'm sorry, Sac," Nicky said, "I should have found you first. I should've warned you."

The Native American woman was visibly shaking in the Pharoh's arms.

"He's gone," she whispered, "He's gone."

Attila bent down and pulled her away from the young king as he began to make some gruesome gestures.

"No, no, Attila, no, we can't do that," Nicky told him, "Aside from being illegal... everywhere, we still don't know who did it."

"Violence is never the answer," Sacajawea mused.

"Occasionally violence is the answer," Octavius interjected.

"No, she's right," Ahkmenrah agreed, brushing his fingers through her hair, "T-Teddy would not want us to drive ourselves mad trying to find him."

"I loved him," Sacajawea whispered.

"You still do, or you wouldn't be crying," Octavius said wisely, "I know if I were ever to lose the one I love, I would cry for days on end."

Bringing her knees close up to her body, Sacajawea looked around at the group.

"Were any of you in love?" she asked. Attila smiled.

"Honoria. Like Octo. Two wars for her; no wedding," he said wistfully.

"There was a girl I met in Spain... she was so smart. Nothing freaked her out. Spider? No problem. Jumping off a cliff into the ocean? No problem. Movies about killer clowns? That sometimes was a problem, though. But she had this hair; it was so shiny, you could probably play a movie on it," Nicky recalled, laughing at one of his only fond memories away from the museum, "She was something else."

"What about you, Ahkmenrah?" Jedediah asked curiously, "Anybody back home?"

"No, I'm afraid I was never able to find anyone who could make me feel that way. However, I have grown to be content with familial bonds."

"I really am sorry, Sac," Nicky said, kneeling down, "I should have realized that you would- god, I'm just sorry."

"I know," she said with the tiniest hint of a smile. He pulled her into an apologetic hug, which Ahkmenrah added himself to. Seeing a group hug in the making, Attila joined in. Cautiously, Jedediah and Octavius made their way into the fray. Finally, Dexter wiggled himself into Sacajawea's lap, causing her to laugh at his adorable little face.

This hurt. It hurt like hell, but they would get through it. Together. Just like they always had.

 **A.N.: So... yeah. I got some feelings writing this. Usually that's a good sign that the readers will like it too. Please tell me if you did!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N.: Hi, guys! Finally got a little bit of time to work on this. You may have noticed a few changes. Do not be confused. I am just finding the story's path.**

Soon, a semblance of normalcy was created. There had been a few issues at first, of course. Aside from recovering from the loss of Teddy and catching up on a few years' worth of news, there had also been some new exhibits to help get acquainted with coming to life. An ancient pope had proven to be quite difficult before Nicky and Ahkmenrah finally convinced him not to declare a holy war against the Huns.

"At that point, I was terrified. My brother had a temper, of course, but he'd never came close to laying a hand on me before," Ahkmenrah recounted to Nicky about a month after his return. They were laying on the floor of the African mammal exhibit, Ahkmenrah absentmindedly stroking a sleeping lion as Nicky took notes. The pharaoh's eyes were slightly watering, staring up into the branches of a tree.

"I tried to apologize, but he wouldn't listen. The more I tried to explain that it was an accident, the angrier and angrier he got. I started backing up, and he kept moving closer and closer. I was begging him to calm down. My heart was pounding. He looked more like a demon than my brother. I tried to reach out, touch his shoulder. Kahmunrah smacked my arm away and kicked me to the ground."

As he relived these memories, Ahkmenrah began blinking furiously. Nicky politely pretended to ignore the tears that were almost falling down the pharaoh's cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Nicky, for being too emotional. I know that this was a few thousand years ago, but still-"

Ahkmenrah's thoughts were interrupted by Tillie's voice.

"What do you mean, you don't know where the bloody tablet is?"

Both young men stared at each other in horror before running to find her. It wasn't terribly hard. She was standing on one of the staircases staring down Octavius and Jedediah, who were both looking absolutely terrified.

"Did I hear that my tablet's gone?" Ahkmenrah asked urgently, "What happened?"

"Well," Octavius began, "We had been in Ahkmenrah's room to-"

"Try and read hieroglyphs," Jedediah interrupted. Everyone stared at him in confusion, including Octavius.

"Don't judge. I do what I want."

"Anyways," Octavius continued, "The door was still open because... well, we can't open it."

"Yeah, so we were in there for a while before we realized that the tablet wasn't on the wall," Jedediah finished.

"Crap," Nicky muttered, "They're gonna kill me. How long do we have before sunrise?" Tillie glanced down at her watch.

"About two hours."

"Well, if we split into smaller groups, we can canvas the area in that time," Octavius reasoned.

"Good thinking," Nicky said, "Tillie, Octavius, try the first floor. Jed, Ahk, and I will take the second floor."

The groups split accordingly. On the first floor, little luck was being had.

"It's hopeless," Tillie moaned, shuffling across the floor, "We're never going to find the tablet."

"I'm sure our comrades on the second floor are having better luck," Octavius assured her.

They weren't. Or, at least it seemed that way until Ahkmenrah heard a faint scamper around the corner.

"I have a sneaking suspicion I know who the culprit is." They all stared at each other in horror.

"DEXTER!" Nicky shouted as began to race down the hall with his friends following in suit. The mischievous monkey was running down the hallway with the tablet in hand.

"Dexter, give it back please," Ahkmenrah begged. The capucin stopped and tilted his head as if he was considering if he should listen.

"Yes, be a good little boy," he encouraged, "Give me back my tablet, Dexter."

Of course, Dexter didn't listen. Nicky grabbed the tablet and began wrestling the monkey for it. As they played tablet tug of war, one of the pieces was jostled.

It seemed that time stood still. No sound from the rest of the museum could be heard. No flourescant lights flickered as they normally did. The tablet began to glow, not its familiar gold, but an unfamiliar red. Ruby colored sand flowed from the relic and flew in the air, the only movement in this unearthy place as a voice, detached from anything familiar, began to sing.

 _Sands of time, take me back before it all went wrong. When love was but a song and tomorrow shone as brightly as the sun. Sands of time, take me back._

 **A.N.: Dun Dun DUUUN! Bonus points to whoever recognizes that little nod! As always, I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N.: Hi, guys! Sorry for the wait. Things have been surprisingly busy around here. But you don't care about that, do you? You just want the new chapter. Alright, here it is.**

Nicky woke up very aware of the fact that he couldn't breathe. There was no light; was he dead? No, he felt warm, and he was pretty sure that dead people can't feel warmth. Then what was happening? There was movement around him, then sudden, bright light.

"Sorry, Nicky," Tillie mumbled sheepishly, "We were all trying to get up as quick as possible."

"It's fine," he assured her, "But what happened?"

He looked around to discover that a large group of them, larger than those who had been searching for the tablet, were all crammed into a small, dimly lit room.

"It's the old staff room," Jedediah muttered, "But this was renovated back in 1982."

"So we're in the museum before 1982," Tillie concluded, "But how the bloody hell we got here-"

"Sands of time," Ahkmenrah gasped, interrupting her, "There was an old story about this. It explained why we used hourglasses. A desert storm was once set to hit a huge village. Several gods and goddesses didn't want the village to be harmed because the people were incredibly devout, so they created a council in order to-"

"Ahk, the short version, please," Nicky interrupted.

"Well, in order to prevent the storm from killing the village, the gods infused a spirit into the sand and gave it the ability to control time as a way to serve the gods, to create a timeline which pleased them the most."

"What could we have done to displease them?" Sacagawea wondered out loud.

"We won't figure it out in here," Jedediah reasoned, "Let's go figure out where, or when, we are."

The large group filed out of the staff room with Nicky at the back, apprehension creeping through his veins. Something was foreign about this museum. Even though it was the same building he had grown up in, there was no sense of warmth that he had grown so accustomed to.

"It's too quiet," Sacagawea said, as if she had known what he was thinking. Suddenly, as if to challenge her statement, screams erupted from above them. They were terrifying, and Nicky could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raising.

"Sorry about that,"Ahkmenrah muttered, looking embarrassed. The realization hit Nicky like a punch in the stomach. He remembered that scream from when he was little. Before they had let the pharoh out.

"Who's there?" a voice called out from around the corner.

With a group so large, there was no point in trying to hide. Yet each and every one of them wished they could when they saw who the voice belonged to. He had looked very different when they had last seen him. His hair had been whiter. He wasn't nearly as skinny. But there was no mistaking him.

It was Cecil.

 **A.N.: Dun Dun DUUUUUUUN! I'll leave you there for now. I can't wait to hear all of your opinions of what happened and theories about what's going to happen next!**


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